Impulse sprinkler with shiftable toggle



J y 21, 1959 H. J. KACHERGIS 2,895,681.

IMPULSE SPRINKLER WITH SI IIFTABLE TOGGLE Filed Aug. 2, 1957 INVENTOR V Hemm J Kacher is TORNEY United States Patent 6 IMPULSE SPRINKLER WITH SHIFTABIJE TOGGLE Henry J. Kachergis, Waterbury, Conn., assign'or to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August 2, 1957, Serial No. 675,921

3 Claims. (Cl. 239-230) This invention relates to sprinklers having intermittent movement. More particularly the invention is an improvement on the type of sprinkler disclosed in the D. L. Spender Patent 2,769,666.

This type of sprinkler is generally known as an impulse operated sprinkler wherein a rotary head is intermittently driven about by a series of small strokes either in the same direction to cover a complete circle or in a reversing direction to cover a predetermined area of less than a full circle. In controlling the area to be sprinkled, the above type of sprinkler employs a pair of members adjustably mounted on the sprinkler support and having radially extending arms that are adapted to be contacted by an extension on a lever forming a part of the reversing mechanism to change the direction of the sprinkler rotation. In the past, this reversing mechanism usually consisted of several parts wherein the extension that abutted the area-control arms could be removed, hinged, or slid upwardly out of the plane of the arms so as to eliminate the function of the reversing mechanism and allow the sprinkler head to continuously rotate in one direction. Making this reversing lever with the extension as an attached part inherently weakened the construction of the lever and added to the cost of manufacture.

It is the object of my invention to make the reversing lever from a single stamped blank and of such shape that it can be manually shifted to one of two pivot points. At one pivot point the lever extension is in a position to contact the area-control arms and at another point the lever extension is in a position to clear the area-control arms.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the sprinkler device embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a left-end view of the sprinkler showing the reversing lever in position to contact the area-control arms.

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 showing the reversing lever shifted to a different position out of the plane of the area-control arms, and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the reversing lever, per se.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters, the numeral designates a rotary sprinkler head or body rotatably mounted on a support 11 adapted to be threaded to a feed pipe or suitable support standard not shown. The sprinkler head is formed with a fluid-discharge nozzle 12 for directing the fluid in an upwardly inclined direction into contact with a fluid-detector vane 13 pivotally mounted on the end of the swing-arm 14 pivoted to the upper end of said sprinkler head 10. A suitable spring mechanism is confined within the body of the swinging arm 14 serving to return the arm to normal position with the vane 13 in line with the fluid-discharging nozzle 12, all of which mechanism is referred to and described in the above-referred-to Spender patent.

The mechanism for transmitting kinetic energy of the swinging arm 14 to the head 10 and for reversing the direction of the rotation of the sprinkler head consists of a yoke 15 pivotally mounted on said head 10 as by a pivot screw 16. The yoke 15 is formed at its opposite ends with inturned wings or stops 17 that are adapted to be backed up by lugs 18 projecting from the opposite sides of the sprinkler head 10,. The yoke 15 is adapted to be tilted to two different positions wherein one of the stops 17 will be struck by one of a pair of opposed hammer projections 19 formed as an integral part of the swinging arm 14 to impart an intermittent pivoting action to the head 10.

The yoke 15 is automatically controlled to shift from one tilted position to another by means of a reversing toggle lever 20 pivoted to a projection 21 on the body 10 as by a pivot screw or pin 22. A coil spring 23 is connected between the upper end of the lever 20 and an car 24 projecting outwardly from the lower edge of the yoke 15, and as the lever 20 is moved from one position to another the spring 23 will cause the yoke 15 to tilt on its pivot screw and bring the opposite stop 17 into position to be engaged by the opposite hammer projection 19.

The reversing lever 20 is automatically operated to reverse the rotation of the head to cover predetermined areas by a pair of area-control members 25 and 26 adjustably mounted on the support 11. The members 25 and 26 are provided with arms 27 and 28 extending radially from the support 11 and positioned to normally lie in the path of a depending extension 29 formed as an integral part of reversing lever 20.

Up to this point, the sprinkler described is substantially the same as the one disclosed in the above-mentioned Spender patent, and my improvement consists particularly in the manner in which the reversing lever 20 can be selectively shifted to two positions by a manual operation. As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the reversing lever 20 is provided with an arcuate slot 30 having rounded terminal ends 31 and 32 adapted to receive the pivot screw 22 and the terminal end 31 serving as a pivot point for said lever. The slot terminal end 31 is positioned in line with the axis of the reversing lever 20 and when this end 31 is engaged about the screw 22, the lever extension 29 will be in line with the area-control arms 27 and 28 which will allow the reversing lever to pivot about the pin or pivot screw 22 from the position shown in Fig. 2 to a position where it will be angled clockwise when the lever extension 29 strikes one or the other of the arms 27 or 28.

When it is desired to have the sprinkler rotate continuously in one direction, it is first necessary to have the reversing lever 20 set to the position as shown in Fig. 2, i.e., with the lever extension 29 to the right of the center line of the sprinkler head, after which it is only required that the operator press upon the left-hand corner C of the reversing lever 20 causing said lever to shift away from its normal pivoting position where the pin 22 extends through the slot terminal end 31 to a position where the pin extends through the slot terminal end 32 as shown in Fig. 3 which may be called the inactive position. In this position, it will be noted that the lever extension 29 lies entirely above the plane of the area-control arms 27 and 28 and consequently passes thereover allowing the sprinkler head to rotate cotninuously in one direction. The pivot screw 22 will be held within the terminal ends 31 and 32 of the arcuate slot 30 during either selected position of the reversing lever by reason of the spring 23 normally urging the lever 20 in a downward direction.

It is to be understood that changes in details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. In a sprinkler of the intermittent reversible type consisting of a support, a sprinkler head having a discharge nozzle, an impulse arm pivoted upon said head, said impulse arm having opposed hammer projections, a reversing mechanism comprising a yoke pivoted on said sprinkler head and having stop lugs at its opposite ends, a pivot pin projecting from said head below said yoke pivot, a reversing lever pivotally mounted on said pin, spring means connected between said yoke and said reversing lever and serving to alternately move said yoke to selectively position the stop lugs in line with the hammer projections of the swinging arm to cause intermittent rotation of the head in one direction or the other, areacontrol members adjustable on said support and having radially extending arms, said lever having an extension normally moving with the head in a path to be intercepted by said arms and upon contact therewith swing the lever to reverse the position of said yoke; the improvement which consists of a lateral slidable connection between said reversing lever and said pivot pin permitting said lever to be shifted from one pivoting position on said pin where the lever extension will contact the radial arms to another or inactive support position on said pin where the lever extension will clear the arms and allow the sprinkler head to continuously rotate in one direction.

2. In a sprinkler as defined in claim 1 wherein the reversing lever and its extension is in the form of a single flat blank.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the improvement includes an arcuate slot in said reversing lever and a pin on the head projecting through the slot, the lever being shiftable from its pivoting position where the pin extends through the end of the slot in the center line of the lever axis to another position where the pin is at the opposite end of the slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

